Pennsylvania, Chicago, Oregon, Los Angeles and even close to where they started their journey, UCI Medical Center, soon-to-be graduates learned Friday, March 21, where they will be spending the next years of their journey to becoming doctors.

The UC Irvine School of Medicine hosted its annual Match Day on Friday, with graduates stepping forward one by one to open their envelopes, discovering before the gathered crowd of friends and family which residency programs they had been matched with. Many took the opportunity to thank those in their lives who had helped them reach this point.

And, some were accompanied by partners or even children, because they, too, are part of this journey. The future doctors not only learned where they would spend their next years, but also what discipline they would do their clinical work in.

This year, 111 UCI medical school graduates participated in Match Day; there were 43, 237 positions nationwide and 52,498 applicants, according to the National Resident Matching Program. This was the largest group in its 73-year history, the national program reported.

Originally Published: March 21, 2025 at 2:42 PM PDT

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Skyy Clark and Eric Dailey Jr. each scored 14 points and No. 7 seed UCLA routed 10th-seeded Utah State, 72-47, on Thursday night to reach the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the fourth time in five seasons.

Aday Mara, a 7-foot-3 reserve center, added 10 points for Coach Mick Cronin’s Bruins (23-10), who will face second-seeded Tennessee on Saturday in the Midwest Region as they seek their fourth Sweet 16 appearance in the past five editions of March Madness. The Volunteers also cruised to an easy win, 77-62 over Wofford.

Mason Falslev scored 17 points and Deyton Albury had 12 for Utah State (26-8), which reached its third consecutive NCAA Tournament – this time under Jarrod Calhoun, the Aggies’ third coach in that span.

UCLA broke the game open by holding the Mountain West Conference school to just two free throws during a 12-2 run for a 39-27 halftime advantage. Then the Bruins had a 17-7 surge early in the second half to build a 20-point lead.

The Bruins finished at 48% from the field after shooting 55% in the first half. They shot 10 for 24 from 3-point range, eight of 10 players scored, and they had 22 assists on 26 baskets.

Utah State shot 30% while committing 11 turnovers, leading to 20 UCLA points.

More to come on this story.

Originally Published: March 20, 2025 at 8:52 PM PDT

UCLA activists, including students and faculty, announced Thursday that they are suing the school, alleging administrators failed to protect protesters at a campus pro-Palestinian encampment last school year.

Plaintiffs in the civil rights suit allege they experienced serious physical and verbal attacks, including sexual assault and being beaten, by both police and counterprotesters who attacked their encampment in April 2024, attorneys said.

The civil rights suit against counterprotesters, several police agencies and the university was announced Thursday at a news conference by the UCLA Luskin Conference Center, held by the California chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-CA). The UC Board of Regents were meeting at the center this week.

After the Israel-Hamas conflict unfolded in late 2023, pro-Palestinian protesters at UCLA set up a “Palestine Solidarity Encampment” near Royce Quad and held numerous protests in April 2024, echoing many college campuses across the country. Tensions were high as the activists, demanding their school divest and sever ties with Israeli entities, clashed with counterprotesters. Late on April 30, violence broke out as counterprotesters stormed the encampment, resulting in multiple injuries. Later, police in riot gear moved in to clear the encampment, resulting in over 200 arrests.

The violence prompted an investigation, and in part led to the replacement of UCLA’s police chief and increased safety measures at all UC schools.

Several plaintiffs claimed they had severe, lasting injuries; some from being hit with rubber bullets; others pepper-sprayed in the attack.

Thistle Boosinger, a drummer, said that a counterprotester shattered her hand, leading to chronic pain and the loss of income.

“I am drowning in debt that piles up faster than I can pay it off, and I still cannot play drums, write, type, ride a bike, play sports, or even lay my hand flat on a table, or make a fist without terrible pain,” Boosinger…

Forensic evidence collected by the Rosemead-based utility will help determine whether Edison equipment ignited the destructive Eaton fire.

Originally Published: March 20, 2025 at 6:32 PM PDT

LOS ANGELES — Lauren Betts could hardly hold herself together as she walked over to UCLA women’s basketball assistant coach Shannon LeBeauf.

“She just had tears in her eyes,” head coach Cori Close told reporters. “She was so excited.”

The 6-foot-7 Bruins center was named an Associated Press and USBWA First Team All-American earlier that morning but didn’t find out until after practice had concluded. She’s the first UCLA women’s basketball player to receive the AP honor and joins Natalie Williams, a two-time selection in 1993-94, as the only Bruins to be USBWA first-teamers.

“To watch her improvement on the board is great,” Close said, “but to watch her have the courage to understand, yes, you’re one of the best players in the country – what’s helped her in that is that she’s realized that she’s so much more than that, and that has freed her up to be all that she can be as a basketball player.”

The accolades didn’t stop there. Point guard Kiki Rice earned a spot on the AP All-America Honorable Mention list and Close was named the USBWA Coach of the Year. The awards are dovetailing nicely with the Bruins’ refreshed confidence, coming at an opportune time after being announced as the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament.

UCLA (30-2), which is set to host Southern in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at 7 p.m. Friday, appears to have been on a high since avenging its losses to USC to win the Big Ten Conference Tournament.

“We had a really good week of practices and I feel like this team is really taking a step in the right direction in terms of how we’re leading ourselves,” Rice told reporters. “And just the energy that we’re bringing and our focus. That’s really good because we’re at the most important time of the year.”

UCLA and Southern will be meeting for the first time and are just building connections, but the Bruins have played HBCUs throughout Pac-12 history and Close coached against Florida A&M when…

The Los Angeles Homeless Service Authority hailed the early results, which officials say show the region is on the right track to “solving” homelessness.

Originally Published: March 20, 2025 at 4:01 PM PDT

The effective dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development has dealt a major blow to American “soft power,” said Isobel Coleman, a former senior USAID official.

Speaking at the Beckman Center at UC Irvine on Wednesday evening, March 19, Coleman, who served as USAID’s deputy administrator for policy and programming under the Biden administration, said there will be a severe impact from halting critical foreign assistance programs.

“The work in the field has mostly ground to a halt, and American soft power has taken a big hit,” said Coleman, who led the review of the U.S. mission to the United Nations for former President Joe Biden’s transition team before joining USAID. “Over its 63-year existence, USAID has saved and improved the lives of hundreds of millions of people.”

Coleman’s talk at UCI, part of the School of Social Ecology’s speaker series on contemporary policy issues, comes after the Trump administration made drastic cuts to USAID’s funding and operations as part of a broader effort to reorganize U.S. foreign aid.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on March 10 that an internal review had resulted in the cancellation of 83% of the agency’s programs and much of USAID’s work is at a standstill. The goal, according to the administration, is to prioritize aid that aligns more closely with U.S. interests, focusing on areas including humanitarian aid and disaster response, and to counter China’s influence.

But the halt, Coleman argued, not only exacerbates human suffering, but also shifts the global balance of power, making it “easier for China to extend and deepen its interests around the world.”

“No country is more pleased to see USAID shut down than the People’s Republic of China,” she said, pointing out that China has already signaled its intent to fill the void in countries that once depended on American aid, including Cambodia and Nepal.

This week, the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle…